Krugman rips von Mises up one side & down the other

[dblack]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

 

[Bfgrn]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is based upon a concept set forth in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality. In simple terms, the signatories agree that society in which a person lives should help them to develop and to make the most of all the advantages (culture, work, social welfare) which are offered to them in the country.[1]

Social Security may also refer to the action programs of government intended to promote the welfare of the population through assistance measures guaranteeing access to sufficient resources for food and shelter and to promote health and well-being for the population at large and potentially vulnerable segments such as children, the elderly, the sick and the unemployed. Services providing social security are often called social services.



But take solace right wing scum, other ultra-conservatives in this world also reject the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Be PROUD you stand with: the Soviet Union, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, People's Republic of Poland, Union of South Africa, Czechoslovakia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) Honduras and Yemen.

And be VERY PROUD you stand with your ideological brothers...Muslims....

In 1948, Saudi Arabia abstained from the ratification vote on the Declaration, claiming that it violated Sharia law. In 1982, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, said that the Declaration was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition" which could not be implemented by Muslims without conflict with Sharia.

 

[Dot Com]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

you're funny Putting other people's welfare/lives in danger so that you can have economic freedom to not have insurance is lolibertarian nonsense.

 

[Dot Com]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

you're funny Putting other people's welfare/lives in danger so that you can have economic freedom to not have insurance is lolibertarian nonsense.

 

[dblack]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

you're funny Putting other people's welfare/lives in danger so that you can have economic freedom to not have insurance is lolibertarian nonsense.

I don't think any of this is funny, and freedom isn't nonsense. Liberals used to get this.

 

[dblack]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

 

[Dot Com]

The Heritage Foundation disagrees w/ you. They're the ones who came up w/ the individual mandate. Obama just borrowed it from them.

 

[Bfgrn]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

 

[Toro]

SS isn't insurance. It's a retirement system.

 

[Dot Com]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

 

[Bfgrn]

SS isn't insurance. It's a retirement system.

It is more than 'a retirement system' It is social insurance.

Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:

• the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;
• explicit provision is made to account for the income and expenses (often through a trust fund);
• it is funded by taxes or premiums paid by (or on behalf of) participants (although additional sources of funding may be provided as well); and
• the program serves a defined population, and participation is either compulsory or the program is subsidized heavily enough that most eligible individuals choose to participate.[1]

Social insurance has also been defined as a program where risks are transferred to and pooled by an organization, often governmental, that is legally required to provide certain benefits.[2]

In the U.S., programs that meet these definitions include Social Security, Medicare, the PBGC program, the railroad retirement program and state-sponsored unemployment insurance programs.[1] The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is also a social insurance program.

 

[Bfgrn]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Folks like dblack ignorantly parrot far right wing social Darwinism propaganda and then try to portray it as what liberals once believed. Liberals NEVER believed what they are trying to sell.

Even the Mise icon F.A. Hayek supported a social safety net.

Hayek on health care, social safety nets and public housing

I am often asked about Hayek's views on universal health care and other elements of state-provided social security. This puzzles me because Hayek wrote about these topics without ambiguity in his best known and best selling work, The Road to Serfdom.

I therefore reproduce the following passage, taken from The Road to Serfdom, Text and Documents, The Definitive Edition, by F. A. Hayek, edited by Bruce Caldwell, University of Chicago Press, 2007

I commend everyone -- not least those who claim to be Hayekians -- to read the master's own words. Indeed, I urge you to read the whole book, not merely the abridged and re-interpreted and too often mistaken accounts of this most important contribution to today's political and economic debate.

The Road to Serfdom, pp 148-149
“There is no reason why in a society which has reached the general level of wealth which ours has attained [NW note: Hayek was writing not in prosperous post-war America, but in war-torn, austerity-ridden Britain in 1943] the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom. .... [T]here can be no doubt that some minimum of food, shelter, and clothing, sufficient to preserve health and the capacity to work, can be assured to everybody. ... Nor is there any reason why the state should not assist the individual in providing for those common hazards of life against which, because of their uncertainty, few individuals can make adequate provision.

"Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance – where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks – the case for the state’s helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong. There are many points of detail where those wishing to preserve the competitive system and those wishing to super-cede it by something different will disagree on the details of such schemes; and it is possible under the name of social insurance to introduce measures which tend to make competition more or less ineffective. But there is no incompatability in principle between the state’s providing greater security in this way and the preservation of individual freedom.

"To the same category belongs also the increase of security through the state’s rendering assistance to the victims of such ‘acts of God’ as earthquakes and floods. Wherever communal action can mitigate disasters against which the individual can neither attempt to guard himself nor make provision for the consequences, such communal action should undoubtedly be taken.

“There is, finally, the supremely important problem of combating general fluctuations of economic activity and the recurrent waves of large-scale unemployment which accompany them. This is, of course, one of the gravest and most pressing problems of our time. But, though its solution will require much planning in the good sense, it does not — or at least need not — require that special kind of planning which according to its advocates is to replace the market.

"Many economists hope, indeed, that the ultimate remedy may be found in the field of monetary policy, which would involve nothing incompatible even with nineteenth-century liberalism. Others, it is true, believe that real success can be expected only from the skillful timing of public works undertaken on a very large scale. This might lead to much more serious restrictions of the competitive sphere, and, in experimenting in this direction, we shall have to carefully watch our step if we are to avoid making all economic activity progressively more dependent on the direction and volume of government expenditure. But this is neither the only nor, in my opinion, the most promising way of meeting the gravest threat to economic security.

"In any case, the very necessary effort to secure protection against these fluctuations do not lead to the kind of planning which constitutes such a threat to our freedom.”

 

[dblack]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Folks like dblack ...

You haven't got the slightest clue what 'folks like dblack' are all about. You're far more interested in your ridiculous left/right puppet show.

 

[Bfgrn]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Folks like dblack ...

You haven't got the slightest clue what 'folks like dblack' are all about. You're far more interested in your ridiculous left/right puppet show.

You and your far right wing 'ilk' have been very clear about what you believe. I don't have to speculate.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Thanks to Krugman and Obama over 100MM Americans are on some form of public assistance...that's Progressive economies at its best

 

[dblack]

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Folks like dblack ...

You haven't got the slightest clue what 'folks like dblack' are all about. You're far more interested in your ridiculous left/right puppet show.

You and your far right wing 'ilk' have been very clear about what you believe. I don't have to speculate.

Apparently, you don't have to read either. You certainly don't bother to think about anything that doesn't fit your preconceived stereotypes. You realize this is the very definition of a bigot, right?

 

[Bfgrn]

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Folks like dblack ...

You haven't got the slightest clue what 'folks like dblack' are all about. You're far more interested in your ridiculous left/right puppet show.

You and your far right wing 'ilk' have been very clear about what you believe. I don't have to speculate.

Apparently, you don't have to read either. You certainly don't bother to think about anything that doesn't fit your preconceived stereotypes. You realize this is the very definition of a bigot, right?

Well you have a forum here to explain your beliefs. I have seen nothing that would make what I say an exaggeration.

 

[jasonnfree]

Hey pea brain...every working American PAYS INTO Social Security. It is an INSURANCE policy. Are you going to turn down SS benefits turd breath?

Social Security is not an Insurance policy. It's a welfare program. The executives of an insurance company would all go to jail if they ran their company the way Congress runs Social Security.

Social Security IS an insurance program. AND...not one dime of the huge US deficit has been caused by a benefit check paid by Social Security.

I suspect many Americans would happily turn down SS benefits, in exchange for a full refund of the taxes they've paid into the program. Is that what you had in mind?

Go for it pal. I know you far right wing scum want to end all social programs. But if you end Social Security, with it goes much more than retirement benefits.

Nah, I just want you to quit pretending that such programs are insurance policies. An insurance policy is a voluntary contract. No one is coerced into participating.

If you want to legally drive a car, insurance is not 'voluntary'. You far right wing scum just want to declare that you really are scum.

You can skip the silly insults. Or not. But mandatory insurance of any kind is a violation of basic economic freedom.

You right wing scum have a lot of nerve to use the word 'freedom'.

Social Security is not an American concept. It is an international one.

Social Security is ...

But it's NOT an 'insurance policy', and your claim that it is, is bullshit to cover up its coercive nature.

Ironic, you cut out the FACT you stand with the lowest life on the planet and call it "freedom"

And you right wing scum are not for 'freedom'...you are for social Darwinism...law of the jungle, survival of the fittest and richest. It was the EXACT same philosophy of Stalin, Hitler and Mao...

Hitler, Stalin and Mao were deeply influenced by Darwin’s theories of survival of the fittest.

Him, and people who share his view, are living in a von Mises/Rand fantasy world that most people "snap out of" before leaving college.

Been my experience that a lot of people snap out of it when they're in need. My father died after a long illness. He did have large life insurance policies that made him "insurance poor" in his words, but had to quit paying on them before he died. My Mom had never worked like many moms back then in 1959, but we got social security which really helped. I've read where even Ayn Rand and Freidrich Hayek eventually used social security and maybe medicare in their older years, even though they advocated against it in their writings. Being close to 70, I know a couple people who cussed social security when they were younger, but collect it now. One of them continuously complains about the cpi short changing him and I rib him about collecting evil "socialist social security" which he used to call it when he was in his '30s. His wife is hurting now. She just turned 60, and lost her job of 30 some years with a non profit that was exempt from unemployment. She can't seem to find work but volunteers at a couple places in hopes of getting on with them in a paying position in the future. In the meantime, she knows at least she'll get social security in a couple of years.

 

[Bfgrn]

Thanks to Krugman and Obama over 100MM Americans are on some form of public assistance...that's Progressive economies at its best

Did Krugman and Obama cause the financial meltdown and the worst recession since 1929? Did Krugman and Obama cause the baby boom? Did Krugman and Obama cause Reagan to sign Social Security Disability Benefits Reform Act of 1984?

 

[Toro]

SS isn't insurance. It's a retirement system.

It is more than 'a retirement system' It is social insurance.

Social insurance is any government-sponsored program with the following four characteristics:

• the benefits, eligibility requirements and other aspects of the program are defined by statute;
• explicit provision is made to account for the income and expenses (often through a trust fund);
• it is funded by taxes or premiums paid by (or on behalf of) participants (although additional sources of funding may be provided as well); and
• the program serves a defined population, and participation is either compulsory or the program is subsidized heavily enough that most eligible individuals choose to participate.[1]

Social insurance has also been defined as a program where risks are transferred to and pooled by an organization, often governmental, that is legally required to provide certain benefits.[2]

In the U.S., programs that meet these definitions include Social Security, Medicare, the PBGC program, the railroad retirement program and state-sponsored unemployment insurance programs.[1] The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) is also a social insurance program.

That's all true. However, the economics of SS replicates that of a defined contribution pension plan, not insurance.

Insurance is where the insured pays an amount to transfer risk to the insurer in case of an adverse event. Life insurance, car insurance, home insurance, etc., are all examples of insurance that pays out when an adverse event occurs. (Technically, "insurance" is for an event that isn't certain, i.e a car accident or house fire. "Assurance" is for something that will happen, i.e. death. However, "insurance" is often interchanged for "assurance.")

A retirement system is when people save money to use in the future. In a defined contribution pension plan, people pool their savings to invest and draw down in the future. Their benefits are dependent upon the amount they pay into the plan and their benefits, i.e. how long they live, death benefits, etc.

Whatever one wishes to name SS, the economics of it most resembles that of a defined contribution pension plan. That's one reason why it should be like a defined contribution pension plan, as is done in a few other countries such as Canada.